Sat 27 Aug 2011
Playstation
Devil May Cry 4
Devil May Cry was the game that laid the foundation for the countless successive third person action adventure games with eye opening environments, sleek game mechanics, simple and responsive controls, and a cool anti-hero type character – Dante, Capcom produced a flawless template that spawned countless imitators..... Sadly, the successive sequel DMC2 felt uninspired, unimaginative and redundant. DMC3 for some unexplained reason was so difficult that they had to release a special edition version of DMC3 to correct the problem, you heard correct it was difficult to the point where it was treated as a malfunction. DCM4 is the third strike and I’m happy to say its hit the ball this time, not out of the park, but it certainly got a good chunk out of it. DC4 feels like they went back to the basics and repeated all the things that made the original Devil May Cry such a prolific game.
The twist with DMC4 is you are no longer playing as the certified cool and bad ass Dante, instead in DMC 4 you play as Nero, now I know what you’re thinking...Dante wasn’t the problem, the game was the problem and although I do agree with you, Nero works with this game. You control Nero for two thirds of the game, not only is Nero a remarkably different character than Dante, but his fight style is also much different. Nero has a mechanical right arm called the Devil Bringer. This mechanical arm really brings to the table a fresh new fighting mechanic which helps to distinguish the game from its myriad of imitators. Despite the shift of focus off Dante onto Nero, the fundamental gameplay mechanics remain as sleek and polished as ever, the games control interface is very responsive, I found the game easy to play and fun. The game also encourages the use of combos and provides incentive by offering unlockable skills. Even though Nero isn’t Dante, doesn’t have Dante’s personality or the blast control ability, Nero is a deep and interesting character that will keep you invested in the game. Overall this is a far more Solemn game than any previous DMC games. DMC4 is the Dark knight to Batman and Robin, its much darker and much more sincere, but no less fun.
DMC4 looks fantastic, there’s so much detail and effort visibly put into every aspect of the game, from the interiors to the urban and natural environments, it all looks real but does have brief periods where the framerate noticeably drops, also the lightning in some aspects of the game is questionable. DMC4 however is without a doubt one of the best looking third person action games to date. The gameplay and level design however feels very linear like most of its contemporaries, the level design while meticulously crafted feels somewhat predictable, there’s only ever one way to go, luckily the more diverse combat mechanics helps keep this game interesting. In DMC4, you play through the game once as Nero and then out of sheer desire to play with Dante you play through it again. I thought this was kind of absurd, Dante simply plays much better than Nero, but once you get to the point where you can play as Dante there’s nothing new to experience in the game, you’ve already completed it. It just ends up feeling like a waste.
Despite some minor problems here and there, DMC4 is a much better game than its preceding two sequels and ultimately succeeds at revitalizing the franchise. The game looks like a work of art, the combat is fun and addictive, the controls for both Nero and Dante are well implemented. Capcom, however in my opinion has still come up short with this one though although it’s much better than the last two DMC games, the original still stands out as the best DMC game to date. Although this is much better effort, whether its enough to revitalize the franchise remains to be seen.
Rating – 89% - Devil May Cry is Back
Pros:
It’s definitely better than the last two sequels
The game looks great
The combat is fun and addictive
The Controls are well designed and are very responsive
Cons:
Playing the game through once as Nero and then getting to play as Dante but with no new missions or maps feels like a waste.
The twist with DMC4 is you are no longer playing as the certified cool and bad ass Dante, instead in DMC 4 you play as Nero, now I know what you’re thinking...Dante wasn’t the problem, the game was the problem and although I do agree with you, Nero works with this game. You control Nero for two thirds of the game, not only is Nero a remarkably different character than Dante, but his fight style is also much different. Nero has a mechanical right arm called the Devil Bringer. This mechanical arm really brings to the table a fresh new fighting mechanic which helps to distinguish the game from its myriad of imitators. Despite the shift of focus off Dante onto Nero, the fundamental gameplay mechanics remain as sleek and polished as ever, the games control interface is very responsive, I found the game easy to play and fun. The game also encourages the use of combos and provides incentive by offering unlockable skills. Even though Nero isn’t Dante, doesn’t have Dante’s personality or the blast control ability, Nero is a deep and interesting character that will keep you invested in the game. Overall this is a far more Solemn game than any previous DMC games. DMC4 is the Dark knight to Batman and Robin, its much darker and much more sincere, but no less fun.
DMC4 looks fantastic, there’s so much detail and effort visibly put into every aspect of the game, from the interiors to the urban and natural environments, it all looks real but does have brief periods where the framerate noticeably drops, also the lightning in some aspects of the game is questionable. DMC4 however is without a doubt one of the best looking third person action games to date. The gameplay and level design however feels very linear like most of its contemporaries, the level design while meticulously crafted feels somewhat predictable, there’s only ever one way to go, luckily the more diverse combat mechanics helps keep this game interesting. In DMC4, you play through the game once as Nero and then out of sheer desire to play with Dante you play through it again. I thought this was kind of absurd, Dante simply plays much better than Nero, but once you get to the point where you can play as Dante there’s nothing new to experience in the game, you’ve already completed it. It just ends up feeling like a waste.
Despite some minor problems here and there, DMC4 is a much better game than its preceding two sequels and ultimately succeeds at revitalizing the franchise. The game looks like a work of art, the combat is fun and addictive, the controls for both Nero and Dante are well implemented. Capcom, however in my opinion has still come up short with this one though although it’s much better than the last two DMC games, the original still stands out as the best DMC game to date. Although this is much better effort, whether its enough to revitalize the franchise remains to be seen.
Rating – 89% - Devil May Cry is Back
Pros:
It’s definitely better than the last two sequels
The game looks great
The combat is fun and addictive
The Controls are well designed and are very responsive
Cons:
Playing the game through once as Nero and then getting to play as Dante but with no new missions or maps feels like a waste.
